Join me on this teaching journey!

Tag: third grade teachers

Whew! It’s quiet again at my house. I am really lucky to have all my children and grandchildren within a day’s drive of my home. Christmas was a hectic, loud, and wonderful day spent with our three adult kids and six grandkids. One family came from out-of-town and was able to spend several days with us. Cousins played and spent time getting acquainted again.

and it was so wonderful to see! Our adult children grew up away from relatives and missed getting to know cousins, so we really treasure the time their children spend together.

With the quiet of the house, I find myself thinking about the coming of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. When I was younger, my hubby and I attended our fair share of parties and celebrations. A good, albeit very late, time was had. Cue the coming of our children and New Year’s Eve was better celebrated at home, in the comfort of our family room, as the ball dropped.

Well, you don’t have to wait until Dec. 31 to celebrate the New Year!!! A terrific group of Teacher pay Teacher sellers are having a $1 sale on selected items from their store! Yes, you read that right…$1 products!!! To find these great deals, just type #Ringin2019 in the search bar and go shopping!

Like this:

With the start of new school year and having students share their chapter summaries, I decided I needed to explicitly teach my fifth graders how to summarize using the chapters in our novel, “Blood on the River”. It’s an historical fiction novel about the founding of Jamestown. Just an FYI, it’s a great way to incorporate our Social Studies as we study early America.

In the past, won’t lie, I have sort of “guessed and by golly”‘d my way through summarizing. It is not one of my stronger skills as a teacher. Partly, I think, because it always seemed so subjective to me. Well, last week I took the bull by the horns and began to teach summarizing directly.

My students had summarized chapter 6 of the book as part of their homework. It became very apparent quickly, that summarizing was needed to be taught explicitly.

As a teacher of 24 years, I am still tickled when my brain pulls out an idea that wasn’t part of my lesson!!! After all the summaries were read, I went to the board and wrote:

Chapter 6 High Points

Then, as a class, I asked my students to review the chapter with a partner and come up with only six events or ideas that seemed to be very important. I purposely avoided the words “main idea”. That term always seemed to make students think there’s only one right answer. Noooooo….not always!

As partners reported their “high points“, many were simply supporting details, so as the students shared their ideas, I took their ideas and jotted them on the board. Together, I helped them “see” the bigger picture of all their ideas. We worked together to put similar ideas into a more general sentence.

For example, in Ch. 6, there is a battle between a whale, thresher shark, and a swordfish that is observed by Captain Smith and Samuel, the main character. All the students mentioned the battle as an important event, which it was, but the comment from Capt. Smith to Samuel was that no matter how big and powerful you think you are, the less powerful can work together and bring you down! That comment helped my kids see that high points in a chapter can be more than just an event.

After the kids and I wrote the six high points together, I had them use those points to create another summary in their reading journals. I had them compare their first summary with the summary they had just written. The summaries were sooooo much more on point and the kids even remarked at the differences they saw.

It wasn’t me telling the kids what the high points or main ideas were, but all of us working together. I did the same lesson two chapters later and the summaries showed more depth of thought and relied less on actual events of the chapter.

Give it a try and let me know if your students’ summaries have show growth as you work together!

PS

If you’d like to check out this fabulous novel and the vocabulary activities and discussion questions I use with my students, just click Blood on the River

Like this:

Fact or Fib?

George Washington never told a lie. Abraham Lincoln walked ten miles to return a nickel. Theses are some of the “facts” I was taught about these two most beloved and celebrated presidents. What’s the truth?

I went on a hunt for facts about both of these presidents, each of whom have wonderful, but not necessarily true stories about their lives.

sharing is caring!

As I accumulated the facts about George and Abraham, I began to think about how to share these facts with my students. It was an easy decision to make a game of it all. Part of why I create products is to make learning fun for my students while also making life easier for my teacher friends. Here was a perfect opportunity to share what I had learned with both my students AND friends!

Celebrate With George and Abraham

I created a “FACT” or “FIB” sort to have students read statements about each of the presidents, and after discussion, decide whether it’s a fact or a fib. I have included the answers for teachers. I also thought it would be fun for students to then take their newly acquired facts and create an acrostic about either president or both! I’ve included a short assessment or pre/post worksheet and also a Venn diagram to compare the two presidents.

Celebrate Presidents’ Day with George and Abraham!

What are some and engaging ways you celebrate Presidents’ Day? Let me know!